Saturday, 12 May 2012

Recently I could not fight the feeling that I have already seen everything that was to be seen in Warsaw. Therefore, I decided to take a longer trip to another capital city in Eastern Europe. I chose Prague that is said to be one of the most beautiful cities in the region. So you may expect in the coming weeks a couple of posts relating to Prague.

In my first trip I went to the district of Hradčany, surrounding the Prague castle. Hradčany is located on a hill facing the river. As climbing up is not my preferred way of travelling, I caught the tram number 22.

When you enter the castle area, the crowd (and yes, this is a terribly crowded place, you'd better go there early morning if you want to have enough space to put four feet) will take you to the St. Vitus cathedral.

It is a beautiful gothic cathedral. The towers are very high and the interior is vast. It is impressive both from the side of the portal ...

... and in the back.

What I liked best though were the wonderful stained-glass windows, especially the one designed by Alphonse Mucha.

From the Cathedral you should go to the Golden Lane. It is a very narrow street with houses of old merchants and craftsmen. But you can also see there the house where the famous Czech writer Franz Kafka lived.

It is number 22:

Next to the Golden Lane you can visit the Toy Museum. But I will show it to you separately as it fully deserves a dedicated story.

Coming back to Hradčany, it is still the center of power for the Czech Republic. In the old days the Prague Castle was the house of the kings.

Today, the president of the Czech Republic works there:

After all, this is no surprise, from Hradčany you can see the entire city of Prague. It does give a feeling of allmightiness. Just try for yourself.

Or maybe better look here.

To be honest, there is probably just one place where you can see more - the tower of Petřín. I will go there soon.

Sunday, 6 May 2012

As you recall, I mentioned more than once that my family is proud of its military tradition. I have myself a particular interest in the military technology. In September I took you to MSPO fairs. Today I will show you a bit of the history of the Polish military equipment.

In the Museum you can see lots of interesting things. First of all let's have a look at the artillery. You can see there mortars ...

... and guns.

That one was surely not a small one, especially if you compare it to the size of a horse!

Now admit it, you were sure that the next one will be a tank. And not, tanks are not artillery, they are armored cavallery. So a bit like horses. Just armored. Of course in the Museum you can see lots of tanks (the first one is the T-34).

Then come the infantry and their armored personal carriers. I climbed on a Russian made BTR-60 (believe it or not, it is still in use!).

As I moved on I noticed some strange structures. Coming closer I realised they are radars. They can be tall like this one ...

... or large like this one.

Radars are of course used to detect aircrafts. I detected lots of them. On the right the Russian-made Su aircrafts and on the left the Polish-made Lim aircrafts).

Once the artillery spots an aircraft they bring the anti-aircraft missile﻿s. So we'd better run home. And fast!